Announcing a Real Food Nutrition & Health Course

In the world of homeschooling, the options for Nutrition & Health curricula are down right scary. Everything out there teaches the USDA Food Pyramid’s fear of fats and love of grains. Everything. Never mind that the grains are refined, extruded, denatured constructs of modern engineering. Never mind that the meats come from an inhumane, unsustainable, and unhealthy industrial food supply. Never mind that the dairy is all pasteurized, fortified, and full of antibiotics and pus.

If you’re trying to teach your kids to love Real Food (food that is traditional, old, sustainably and ethically grown or raised, etc.), you won’t find a textbook to support your view. If you’re trying to teach your kids to love saturated fats like butter, coconut oil, and tallow, you won’t find a curriculum that even comes close.

So, for the past six months, I’ve been writing a book just for you. It’s written at a high school (or maybe a mature middle school) level, and covers the same basic topics that are covered in a high school Nutrition & Health course. Only there’s a difference. I’m on your side.

The book’s in the final stages of editing and will be made available to the paying public within the next month or two. You’ll be able to buy it as an e-Book or in a printed version.

But to top it all off, I’m also going to break the book down into a full-fledged online course. So, you’ll have the option of buying the book and creating your own assignments, weekly lesson plans, etc., OR you can enroll your kids in my e-Course and leave all that up to me.

I’ll be discussing more details about it all in the coming months. I just wanted to give you a heads up because if you’re at all like me, you’re already making plans for the next school year.

About the Author

Kristen Michaelis is a passionate advocate for REAL FOOD -- food that's sustainable, organic, local, and traditionally-prepared according to the wisdom of our ancestors. While she adores hats & happy skirts, nothing inspires her quite like geeking out over nutrition & sustainable agriculture. Nutrition educator & author extraordinaire, she's also a rebel with a cause who enjoys playing in the rain, a good bottle of Caol Ila scotch, curling up with a page-turning book, sunbathing on her hammock, and watching her three children grow into young adults.

Comments

Kristen – I am so excited about this! This is going to be such a valuable tool or all of us homeschooling mamas! xoxo .-= Ann Marie @ CHEESESLAVE´s last blog post …Real Food Wednesday: March 3, 2010 =-.

Fantastic idea! We homeschool here too but just going through Kindergarten now. I am so excited about this. I hope you are still doing this when we get to high school. I may just have to buy the book rather than wait that long!

Tammy — After this high school level course is up and going (kinks worked out and everything!), I plan on seeing how open my readers are to me adapting it for younger kids. I just don’t know if there will be enough demand. After all, with young kids they learn mostly by example and hearing you talk about what’s healthy and what’s not. Some parents may really benefit from a young kid’s curriculum, while others may be tempted to just let it go until the kids are older and needing more in-depth explanations.

I don’t see why you shouldn’t! I imagine there will be plenty of homeschooling moms taking the course so that they can better teach their kids. That’s the glory of it being a high school level class instead of geared towards younger kids. When I think of all I took in high school and have since forgotten (Calculus, calculus-based Physics, Organic Chemistry, etc.), I’m amazed. I often wonder how I’d do in those classes today, now that I’m twice the age I was when I took them!

I have 5 daughters; 2 of whom have graduated from homeschooling. We are new to traditional, real foods but are making the change in many areas. My biggest regret is not feeding my family real food from the start and giving them their first Happy Meal!

At least my younger 3 are learning to like real foods and hopefully can start my grandbabies off right someday! I’ve been teaching them to read labels and they love sourdough bread. They can’t quite make themselves like water kefir or kombucha!

Awesome! Our only little one is still in the womb (due in June), but at this point we plan on homeschooling. I’ll absolutely keep this in mind!!! .-= Emily´s last blog post …Menu Plan Monday: 3/6-3/15 =-.

This is a fabulous idea Kristin! I would buy this book for my kids, even though they are in public school. They are still being taught Canada’s food guide like it is the Bible (which is the USDA equivalent to high grains and low-fat). I would like to see suggested assignments in it as well. I would also love to see an adaptation towards smaller children as well.

I’m so excited! This will be wonderful for our homeschooling family. Our oldest is finishing 8th grade. Your timing couldn’t be better for this family. .-= Elizabeth´s last blog post …Two Months Old =-.

I am so glad you are doing this. My 5th grade daughter is having issues with public school kids teasing her about the foods she brings to her dance classes. It really bothers her. She knows they are healthy, but it is still hard to handle the ridicule. This course might give her the ability to stand up to all their teasing with sound facts. Thank you for taking the time to do the research and put it all together. .-= JadeSylver´s last blog post …Brownies =-.

Okay, I hardly ever comment (if at all?), but I just have to tell you how excited I am about this! I have been wondering how to tackle that subject without writing my own curriculum. We are still small here, and so far I’ve just read my oldest portions of Weston Price’s book whenever it corresponded with our literature or geography studies (like when reading Johanna Spyri’s Heidi, we read the portion on nutrition in the Alps). But this is wonderful, wonderful and I do believe we will buy your book and add it to our library! .-= Brandy Afterthoughts´s last blog post …America Alone (Post 3) =-.

Awesome! I don’t know whether I’ll get the book or the course, but it will be part of my 8th grader’s education either way! and mine and the next three sons…As soon as they are available, I will post the information on our local homeschool group website.

Lora — The book is written. I got drafts of the cover art this week, so I expect to make it available within the next couple of weeks. The e-Course will probably not be available until the Fall semester starts up. I’d like to have offered a preview course for the summer, but I’m expecting my next little one to show up in July, so I don’t think that’s a very realistic goal!

As a mother of 4 amazing children, I would love to have the book. Where can I get it? I will keep on looking on the site to see. It is so important, but it is hard to teach it to the kids that want fast food all the time.